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A Thousand Marbles
The older I get, the more I enjoy Saturday
mornings. Perhaps it's the quiet solitude that comes with
being the first to rise, or maybe it's the unbounded joy of
not having to be at work. Either way, the first few hours
of a Saturday
morning are most enjoyable. A few weeks ago, I was
shuffling toward the basement with a steaming cup of coffee
in one hand and the morning paper in the other. What began
as a typical Saturday morning, turned into one of those
lessons that life seems to hand you from time-to-time. Let
me tell you about it:
I turned the dial up into the phone portion of the band on
my ham radio in order to listen to a Saturday morning swap
net. Along the way, I came across an older sounding chap,
with a tremendous signal and a golden voice. You know,
the kind, he sounded like he should be in the broadcasting
business. He was telling whoever he was talking with
something about "a thousand marbles." I was intrigued and
stopped to listen to what he had to say. "Well, Tom, it sure
sounds like you're busy with your job. I'm sure they pay
you well but it's a shame you have to be away from home and
your family so much. Hard to believe a young fellow should
have to work sixty or seventy hours a week to make ends
meet. Too bad you missed your daughter's dance recital." He
continued, "Let me tell you something Tom, something that
has helped me keep a good perspective on my own
priorities."
And that's when he began to explain his theory of a
"thousand marbles." "You see, I sat down one day and did a
little arithmetic. The average person lives about
seventy-five years. I know, some live more and some live
less, but on average, folks live about seventy-five years."
"Now then, I multiplied 75 times 52 and I came up with 3900
which is the number of Saturdays that the average person has
in their entire lifetime. Now stick with me Tom, I'm getting
to the important part." "It took me until I was fifty-five
years old to think about all this in any detail," he went
on, "and by that time I had lived through over twenty-eight
hundred Saturdays. I got to thinking that if I lived to be
seventy-five, I only had about a thousand of them left to
enjoy."
"So I went to a toy store and bought every single marble
they had. I ended up having to visit three toy stores to
round up 1000 marbles. I took them home and put them inside
of a large, clear plastic container right here in the shack
next to my gear. Every Saturday since then, I have taken
one marble out and thrown it away." "I found that by
watching the marbles diminish, I focused more on the really
important things in life. There is nothing like watching
your time here on this earth run out to help get your
priorities straight." "Now let me tell you one last thing
before I sign-off with you and take my lovely wife out for
breakfast. This morning, I took the very last marble out of
the container. I figure if I make it until next Saturday,
then I have been given a little extra time. And the one
thing we can all use is a little more time." "It was nice to
meet you Tom, I hope you spend more time with your family,
and I hope to meet you again here on the band. 75 year Old
Man, this is K9NZQ, clear and going QRT, good morning!"
You could have heard a pin drop on the band when this fellow
signed off. I guess he gave us all a lot to think about. I
had planned to work on the antenna that morning, and then I
was going to meet up with a few hams to work on the next
club newsletter. Instead, I went upstairs and woke my wife
up with a kiss. "C'mon honey, I'm taking you and the kids to
breakfast."
"What brought this on?" she asked with a smile. "Oh, nothing
special, it's just been a long time since we spent a
Saturday together with the kids. Hey, can we stop at a toy
store while we're out? I need to buy some marbles."
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